The Prince who lived
by ariahchan
Summary: Hermione and Harry are back at Hogwarts to complete their N.E.W.T's, however a certain teacher has also returned. Hermione makes it her mission to discover how this Prince lived after a lethal snake bite & an unconventional relationship slowly blooms. SS/HG - Smut later - Rated M


A/N - Oh my gosh, i can't believe i'm attempting a fic!

Ok, for any unfortunate who stumbles across and decides to read this fic i want to start by apologising to you. I've never written anything before and i have absolutely no idea what i'm doing! Im pretty much making this up as i go along. What i do know is, this is most definitely going to be a SS/HG fic as these are my absolute favourite & there will certainly be smut!

So, here i go….

(Oh and i own absolutely nothing, im borrowing these lovely characters from Ms Rowling! And Sevvie survived the war o' course)

Chapter 1-

Hermione sat at her desk tapping her quill idly against the hard wood. Transfiguration lessons just weren't the same without Professor Mcgonagall there to teach it. Instead she had now taken over as headmistress of the school. Professor Bowstrungle was completely and utterly dull at the best of times, although one must admit his animagus form of a vulture was pretty impressive.

She wasn't entirely convinced it was necessary for her to come back to school for her final year at all, she was already swatted up enough to take her N.E.W.T's. She'd had all summer to study and study she did. With no parents and her friends completely occupied with their own lives she didn't have much else to do. After his brothers death, Ron distanced himself from everyone and their new found relationship fizzled away to nothing. She couldn't blame him and she probably wouldn't have reacted any differently herself. Harry played doting brother in law after he started dating Ginny and made sure Ron was ok, so she didn't feel too guilty about not being around at the burrow. With no where else to stay, Professor Mcgonagall agreed to let Hermione reside at the castle over the summer and continue her studies. Yes it was lonely, but she really needed to take her mind off the previous years events, books were just the things to do it.

Apart from the house elves, it was quite nice having the place to herself to roam freely, if not a little spooky at times.

Now the rest of the school had returned and she was completing her last year with the remaining students in her class. Not everyone came back however, some students chose to take a year off to take care of any physical or psychological trauma that they endured during the war.

"Mione," Harry poked her in the shoulder with his quill. "Can you give me a hand? The bloody cabbage just won't turn into a peacock no matter what i do."

Hermione looked at Harrys cabbage which was now running around on the desk with two small birdlike legs. "Oh Harry, you need to follow through with the wand movement and pronounce it clearly, it really is not difficult. How is it you can produce a perfect patronus and not get this?"

Resting his head on the desk, Harry groaned. "I don't know Hermione, this stuff just really doesn't feel that important anymore, my heart just isn't in it. It's just not the same without Ron here as well you know?"

She couldn't argue with that, she completely understood what he meant. After fighting in a war and seeing people you cared about killed in a haze of hate and violence, day to day things just didn't seem as important to them. She was also not fond of her new found fame, which was another reason she decided to stay at the castle over the summer, gotta love those security charms. They even kept out the worms at the daily prophet, not that it stopped them from writing about her anyway.

After what seemed like a 4 hour period, the bell rang and the class piled out of the room. Checking the new timetable, they both set off for the dungeons.

"Who do you think our new teacher will be? Slughorn wouldn't come back, thats for sure." Hermione thought about it for a moment and shrugged.

"It could be anyone, i hear they had to bring someone new in for the defence against the dark arts position as well. Its becoming increasing difficult to find new teachers after what happened." Harry nodded his agreement as they arrived at the potions classroom.

Looking up at the desk at the front of the room, Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. Sitting there scrawling something on a piece of parchment was non other than Severus Snape himself.

"Holy crap Hermione! Can you believe hes come back?" The fact was, she couldn't believe it at all. Last time she saw Severus Snape he was near death after being mauled by Nagini. She had sent up an emergency flare after going back to check on his body, only to discover he was miraculously alive. After professor Flitwik and Shacklebolt took him away to St Mungo's the Prophet hadn't even been able to speculate on what had happened to him.

Being almost the last to arrive, they both took the empty seats at the front and took out this years potions tomb. By the looks of things Draco hadn't returned this year either. By gods she couldn't blame him after what he and his parents did. The Malfoy family were lucky enough to avoid Azkaban due to technicalities, however this did not mean they were popular among the wizarding world.

Professor Snape stood from his chair and faced the class, the room was instantly quietened. Moving to the front of the room all eyes were trained on him. Trademark sneer in place, Snape slammed his palms down onto the desk directly in front of Harry and Hermione. "Should any of you ask me a question about anything unrelated to the syllabus for this year, you will find yourself in detention for the remainder of the term. Do i make myself clear?"

The class mumbled a 'yessir' and shuffled in their seats.

"Good. Now turn to page 296, today we will be brewing a Drowsiness Draught."

The rest of the lesson passed by rather quickly which surprised Hermione. As usual she produced a perfect draught, unlike Harry, who's potion boiled over 15 minutes previously.

"Hermione…." Harry tapped her gingerly on the shoulder, careful to keep his voice down. "Why do you think Snape has come back, i mean, i was convinced he wouldn't show his face in the wizarding world again. You know what hes like and after everything that happened. The man's a hero!"

"I don't know Harry, i'm as surprised as you are. I think Snape just…" Hermione jumped out of her seat as two palms hit the desk directly in front of her.

"Snape just….. what? Ms Granger." The other students went silent.

Looking up from the two large hands in front of her, she caught the dark eyes of the foreboding Potions Master looming over her. "I, sir, i was just…"

As he moved in closer, Hermione was unable to break eye contact, her heart catching in her chest. After all they had been though and all she had seen, this man still had the power to make her body seize up and her mind go blank, with just one penetrating look and his large intimidating figure.

"That is one terms detention." With that, he turned and stormed back to his desk, Hermiones heart dropped back into her chest. The rest of the class slowly resuming their potion making and Harry laid an apologetic hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Hermione, It appears he's still a git after all."

Offering Harry a weak smile Hermione nodded at her friend. She had a suspicion that no matter what they did, Snape was going to have it in for them this year. Now that his promise was fulfilled to Lily, what did he have to lose? No one thought he would have survived the snake bite, yet Snape surprised them all. No one knows how he did it.

Packing up her things, Hermione breathed deeply, catching a hint of Mint and Lavender in the air.


End file.
